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CEPI safeguards student privacy and confidentiality at every stage of data collection. CEPI’s Privacy and Security Policy details its compliance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and related laws, as well as the measures taken toward data security.

Data Collections

Only data required to meet a federal or state law are collected. Some of the data collected include:

Data are collected using secure online applications that help schools report efficiently and accurately.

CEPI staff work to prevent redundant data collection and reduce administrative reporting burden. We also actively solicit user input to streamline collections as much as possible.

CEPI supports reporting personnel with Customer Support services as well as online resources, trainings, and regular announcements of legislative changes and deadlines. In addition, data quality analyses are performed to inform schools of potential anomalies or errors.

The Michigan Statewide Longitudinal Data System is Michigan's centralized education data repository. It lets us connect data in powerful ways—grade-to-grade, school-to-school and level-to-level. It lets us connect seemingly disparate data like school finance, test scores, teacher preparation, gender and race, courses and grades, graduation rates, college enrollment, school lunch eligibility, career and tech programs, special education and gifted programs.

These connections can span from early childhood into the workforce. They help ensure we're meeting the needs of all Michigan students, and tell us which policies and programs work.

MSLDS contains data from CEPI collections and outside systems like Michigan Online Educator Certification System, Career and Technical Education Information System, National Student Clearinghouse, as well as student test data from the Michigan Department of Education. Linkages are also being made with the Workforce Longitudinal Data System being developed by the Workforce Development Agency to provide workforce outcome information.

The data are linked using common identifiers such as the student Unique Identification Code, which protect privacy and improve reliability.

In addition to building the MSLDS infrastructure that collects, stores and shares education data, CEPI has established a data governance system; standardized data definitions, rules and technical specifications across systems; and developed security and access protocols for the systems.

CEPI shares education information in safe and secure ways, to help parents, educators, and policy makers make decisions that can improve student outcomes.

Public.MI School Data is the online education portal where Michigan citizens can assess allocation of resources and the return on their investment in our education systems. It supports Michigan’s standards of accountability and transparency, with information that is easy to access and understand.

MI School Data offers multiple levels and views for statewide, intermediate school district, district, school, and college level information. Data are presented in graphs, charts, trend lines, and downloadable spreadsheets to support meaningful evaluation and decision making.

Education community. Educators whose schools have granted secure login privileges to MI School Data can access more detailed reports that can help inform teaching and learning in the classroom, and support school improvement efforts aimed at reducing achievement gaps, identifying at-risk students, and improving student outcomes.

Program evaluation. CEPI provides useful data to help state and local policymakers to make informed policy decisions.

Researchers. In addition to providing research-ready data sets for evaluating Michigan’s education policies and programs, CEPI works with the Department of Education to facilitate meaningful measurement of student, school, and system performance, build technical and human capacity to use data effectively, and disseminate research results.

Ad hoc. The MSLDS is used to fulfill ad-hoc data requests from MDE, the governor’s office, the State Budget Office, legislators, and other state agencies.

Mandated reports. More than 200 U.S. Department of Education EdFacts and Consolidated State Performance Report reports are developed and delivered from MSLDS each year. In addition, CEPI provides approximately 50 compliance reports per year to MDE.